Publisher's Summary

Nick Naylor, chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies is the hero of Christopher Buckley's wickedly funny Thank You for Smoking. Nick likes his job. In the neo-puritanical nineties, it's a challenge to defend the rights of smokers and a privilege to promote their liberty. Sure, it hurts a little when you're compared to Nazi war criminals, but Nick's just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage and put his son through Washington's elite private school St. Euthanasius.

Nick can handle the pressure from the anti-smoking zealots, but he's less certain about his new boss, who questions whether Nick is worth $150,000 a year to fight a losing war. Nick seeks inspiration and solace from 2 sympathetic souls who work for the firearms and alcohol lobbies. They call themselves the Merchants of Death, and together, they bemoan their plight and argue over which of them has the most deadly job.

Under pressure to produce results, Nick goes on a PR offensive, turning appearances on Oprah and Larry King Live into national events. But Nick's heightened notoriety makes him a nice target for someone who wants to prove just how hazardous smoking can be. If Nick isn't careful, he'll be stubbed out.

Don't miss Christopher Buckley, Steve Martin, and other humorists discussing their craft at the New Yorker Festival.

Nick Naylor is the bad guy that's in all of us. He gets to be bad for fun and profit. In fact, he gets paid for lying, and job that many of us would probably really enjoy. This was a shorter book than I would have liked; I wanted it to go on I was having such a good time. The dialog was crisp and clearly written and the plot was well done, although the major plot twist I saw coming. Even though I saw it coming, it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the book in any way.
I recommend Thank You For Smoking!

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Katerina

Hamden, CT, USA

24/10/04

Overall

"Brilliant"

This book is a much better listen than Buckley's Little Green Men. In addition to being educational (lots of smoking facts are presented) it is deliciously evil. It's always fun to play the bad guy and this book does just that. Highly recommended.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Kelly Howard

Oregon

7/11/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Meh."

I didn't find any extremes in this book...nothing awful, nothing great. The performance came closest to awful, but wasn't quite that bad, just not very good. I don't like Glover's voice, don't think his characterizations are particularly good, am not terribly impressed with his pacing and emphasis.

Since I'm not thrilled with the reader, it's hard to say whether the book would've seemed better with a better reader. I definitely did not pick up much i the way of humor, and definitely didn't find it "wickedly funny." It's not that I lack a sense of humor or don't like dark, sarcastic, or satirical humor --I particularly love all 3. I just didn't think they existed much in this book. The MoD sounded like a number of the people I've worked with...the worst ones, who spend all their time griping & sniping, pithing & moaning, just being generally annoying. I've been forced to spend too much time around people like that in life, I certainly don't find listening to them to be entertainment.

This one's a "SIBI" --Sorry I Bought It.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Marsha L. Woerner

Chicago area

4/07/11

Overall

"A novel, bu??? good feeling"

Too bad it was abridged; I liked the character development and I liked that he got us to like the main character, even though he was despicable. The abridgment made it feel like it was missing something.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Collin Pyle

7/04/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Condensed Version"

Great voice and reading.

Condensed Version of actual book. It skips over many scenes and in few cases over chapters.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.